NewsWrap
for the week ending March 27, 2004
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #835, distributed 3-29-04)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Fenceberry, Rex
Wockner, and Greg Gordon]
Anchored this week by Rick Watts and Kathy Sanchez
U.S. military discharges for homosexuality have dropped dramatically under
so-called "stop loss" orders in effect since combat began in the Middle East.
SLDN, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network -- a group organized to aid
victims of the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy established in 1993 --
this week issued its annual report called "Conduct Unbecoming". Discharges
increased steadily over the history of the policy to reach a record high of
nearly 1,300 in 2001. But the total dropped to about 900 in 2002 and less than 800
in 2003, a level not seen since 1995.
SLDN spokesperson Steve Ralls told the "Washington Blade" that the drop
"continues a historical trend that whenever the country is at war, gay and lesbian
discharges decrease. The Pentagon seems to want to have it both ways: the
talents of gay servicemen and -women at times of war, and federally sanctioned
discrimination at times of peace."
SLDN's report says, "The Bush Administration and its Pentagon leaders
continue to ignore a growing epidemic of anti-gay harassment within the armed forces.
Despite the adoption of a comprehensive Anti-Harassment Action Plan ...
Defense Department leaders refuse to implement the plan and continue to turn a
blind eye to dangerous harassment within the ranks."
The Pentagon has not yet offered an official response to the report.
A Spanish transwoman this week won her appeal to rejoin the Navy, which
will make her the first transgender to serve openly in Spain's military. After 8
years in uniform, the junior petty officer formerly known as Jose Antonio
Gordo Pantoja had been dismissed as unfit to serve when she began hormone
treatment two years ago. In her new identity as Maria del Mar, she appealed her
dismissal to a marine tribunal, citing a royal decree for legal recognition of sex
changes. After hearing extensive medical and psychological expert testimony,
the tribunal accepted what it called her "alteration of sexual identity" and
found it would not interfere with her duties as a maintenance mechanic.
The Japanese city of Yame is prepared to protect the civil rights of
transsexuals but is not yet ready to extend equal treatment to same-gender couples,
Kyodo News Service reported. This week the Fukuoka Prefecture city's Assembly
approved most of a bill designed to end gender discrimination and sexual
harassment, including discrimination and harassment based on what it called
"sexual identity disorder". The draft ordinance also added "other gender issues" as
a protected category, and city officials explained to the Assembly that
clause would protect same-gender couples. But Assemblymembers forced its deletion,
expressing concern that the broad language might also protect pedophiles and
other sex crime perpetrators.
Zanzibar's Government has drafted a bill to increase the maximum penalty
for sodomy to life imprisonment -- and to criminalize same-gender marriages.
Apparently the move was sparked by reports of a gay wedding last year and
increasing visibility of gays and lesbians. Zanzibar, an island in the Indian Ocean
that's become a popular tourist destination, is a somewhat autonomous part of
Tanzania where Muslims are politically dominant. Current law, dating back to
British colonial rule, provides for up to 14 years behind bars for sex
between men. The new proposal would up that to 25-years-to-life, and add a 7-year
sentence for sex between women. Gay and lesbian marriages would be punished
with up to 5 years imprisonment and a substantial fine for both the parties and
the person marrying them. Although the bill is expected to pass, some believe
it's just political grandstanding. They question whether such a statute
would actually be used any more than the current version, which is rarely enforced.
In South Africa, the two suspects in last year's brutal massacre at the
Sizzlers gay massage parlor in Cape Town have each received 9 life sentences for
murder, plus a total of 40 years for other related charges.
Perpetrators Adam Woest and Trevor Theys did not testify and their defense
teams called no witnesses, but their advocates claimed the men had planned only
robbery, and turned to violence after one victim attacked them. The
prosecution claimed the men came prepared to kill all witnesses, bringing with them the
rope and tape used to tie them up, the guns and knife used to kill them, and
gasoline intended to torture them.
Sole survivor Quentin Taylor testified for the prosecution, which said the
crime would not have been solved without him. During the trial, Cape Town High
Court Judge Nathan Erasmus noted that Theys' confession to police mentioned
that his girlfriend had left him for a woman, and the judge questioned
specifically whether the defendants were "homophobic in character". In pronouncing
sentence, he denounced Woest and Theys "utter callousness and brutalness."
In the U.S., a United Methodist Church court found this week that an openly
lesbian minister's partnership did not violate church law. Church law -- the
Book of Discipline -- states that "homosexuality... is incompatible with
Christian teaching", and that "self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be
accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers or appointed to serve in the
United Methodist Church." There is no question that Seattle, Washington minister
Karen Damman is "self-avowed and practicing" -- she declared both in a letter
to her bishop in 2001 which led to the current trial. She also married her
partner Meredith Savage in Oregon shortly after Multnomah County began issuing
licenses to same-gender couples. But more than a score of expert witnesses
defended her with arguments that the Bible is not at all clear on the subject.
Eleven of 13 jurors agreed that nothing in the Bible constituted a declaration,
and that the Book of Discipline does not bar gays and lesbians from the
clergy. The other two jurors were undecided. It would have required 9 guilty
votes to convict Damman, and there is no further appeal.
It's not clear when Damman will return to active ministry, as she's been on
family leave caring for her ailing son.
Like other U.S. churches, the UMC has been arguing for decades regarding
same-gender relationships, and non-gay minister Jimmy Creech was defrocked in 1999
for blessing them. The struggle will resume in late April when the church
convenes its national quadrennial General Conference.
Among developments on the civil marriage front in the U.S. this week, the
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the proposed anti-gay Federal
Marriage Amendment to the national Constitution, while its leading proponents
unveiled a slightly modified version of its text. Republican Senator Wayne
Allard of Colorado claims that striking 5 words from the already-brief proposal
will "reinforce the authority of state legislatures to determine benefits
issues related to civil unions or domestic partnerships," while still serving its
main goal of restricting marriage exclusively to one man and one woman. While
it's debatable if this change would actually alter the impact of the
amendment, or even its chances of advancement this year, it did provide Democrats on
the committee grounds to delay the rest of the hearings.
In Oregon, state Attorney-General Hardy Myers threatened a lawsuit should
Benton County Commissioners follow through on their plan to issue marriage
licenses to same-gender couples. The Commission took that threat so seriously
that Benton County will not issue marriage licenses even to heterosexual couples
until the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled on the issue.
Meanwhile, Multnomah County continues to issue marriage licenses to gays
and lesbians, but its Commission this week began a series of public hearings for
constituents who felt the decision was made without adequate participation.
Tourism interests told of the benefits they've reaped from the influx of
honeymooners.
In New Paltz, New York, another 25 couples were wed by another 6 Unitarian
Universalist ministers. Mayor Jason West, who began the local "solemnizing"
of same-gender relationships, lost his appeal of a court order barring him from
continuing to do so. The first 2 Unitarian ministers who'd continued the
ceremonies after West was charged with misdemeanors, this week pleaded not guilty
to the charges brought against them in turn by the Ulster County District
Attorney.
And finally... the world's first openly transsexual Member of Parliament,
New Zealand's Georgina Beyer, has announced that she will not seek a third
term. In fact she had only run for her current term after intense urging from her
Labour Party. Politics wearies her, she says, while responding to day-to-day
constituency issues is what she finds rewarding. Referring to her rural
riding, she told reporters, "We've made history, Wairarapa and I." She plans to
revive her acting career and return to the international lecture circuit.
But while she's leaving national politics, she seems to be open to returning
to a local office. Previously the town of Carterton had made her the world's
first openly transsexual Mayor. If public interest warrants, she may make a
run for Mayor of Wellington in October.